Uzbekistan 2012 Human Rights Report
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UZBEKISTAN 2012 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Uzbekistan is an authoritarian state with a constitution that provides for a presidential system with separation of powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. In practice the executive branch under President Islam Karimov dominated political life and exercised nearly complete control over the other branches of government. In 2007 the country elected President Karimov to a third term in office in polling that, according to the limited observer mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), deprived voters of a genuine choice. Parliamentary elections took place in 2009. While OSCE observers reported noticeable procedural improvements in comparison with the 2004 parliamentary elections, the 2009 elections were not considered free and fair due to government restrictions on eligible candidates and government control of media and campaign financing. There were four progovernment political parties represented in the bicameral parliament. Security forces reported to civilian authorities. The most significant human rights problems included: instances of torture and abuse of detainees by security forces; denial of due process and fair trial; and widespread restrictions on religious freedom, including harassment of religious minority group members and continued imprisonment of believers of all faiths. Other continuing human rights problems included: incommunicado and prolonged detention; harsh and sometimes life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention (although officials released five high-profile prisoners during the year); restrictions on freedom of speech, press, assembly, and association; governmental restrictions on civil society activity; restrictions on freedom of movement; violence against women; and government-organized forced labor in cotton harvesting. Authorities subjected human rights activists, journalists, and others who criticized the government to harassment, arbitrary arrest, and politically motivated prosecution and detention, which led three civil society activists to leave the country during the year. Government officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from: a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life UZBEKISTAN 2 There were no confirmed reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings. In October several press outlets reported on the death of 18-year-old Navruz Islomov from Shahrisabz District in Kashkadaryo Region. The reports alleged that Islomov died from a beating administered by police officers who confronted him as he attempted to leave the cotton fields. Local police, hospital, and government officials reportedly confirmed Islomov’s death to the press but denied that the circumstances of his death involved police brutality. The government continued its policy of not authorizing an independent international investigation of the 2005 alleged killing by government forces of unarmed civilians in Andijon. The government’s 2005 investigation claimed that armed individuals initiated violence by firing on security forces. The death toll varied between the government’s report of 187 and eyewitnesses’ reports of several hundred individuals killed. To date, the government has not held anyone publicly accountable for the civilian casualties. b. Disappearance There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances. Unconfirmed reports persisted regarding disappearances of persons who were present at the 2005 violence in Andijon. In its 2011 annual report, the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances noted that there were no new cases transmitted to the government during the year but that there were seven outstanding cases from previous years. c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment While the constitution and law prohibit such practices, law enforcement and security officers routinely beat and otherwise mistreated detainees to obtain confessions or incriminating information. Sources reported that torture and abuse were common in prisons, pretrial facilities, and local police and security service precincts. Reported methods of torture included severe beatings, denial of food, sexual abuse, simulated asphyxiation, tying and hanging by the hands, and electric shock. There also were continued reports that authorities exerted psychological pressure on inmates, including threats against family members. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012 United States Department of State • Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor UZBEKISTAN 3 In December the Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Defenders of Uzbekistan (IGIHRDU) reported that 40-year-old Shovkatjon Nurmatov, detained for questioning by Tashkent Region police on November 5, died in custody. Family members reported that police delivered Nurmatov’s body to their home in the Zangiota District of Tashkent Region on December 14. Police presented a death certificate stating that Nurmatov died of “cardiovascular deficiencies” but forced the family to bury him within two hours at a local cemetery without viewing the body. Relatives claimed that Nurmatov did not have heart problems and alleged that he was mistreated while in custody. The government reported that, during the first nine months of the year prosecutors opened four criminal cases, which resulted in the conviction of seven law enforcement personnel on charges of torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. There was no information available on the sanctions or sentences handed down. In a 2010 publication, the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concerns that the country’s definition of torture in the criminal code is not in conformity with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to which the country is a party. Several civil society organizations called for the government to accede to a visit by the UN special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. The special rapporteur’s most recent country assessment occurred in 2003. In early September the France-based Association for Human Rights in Central Asia published a letter on its Web site that allegedly provided a firsthand account of torture in the Jaslik prison. According to the letter, which was reportedly smuggled out of the facility, in December 2011 prison authorities under the direction of the head of educational affairs, Ikrom Berdibayev, beat an inmate named Ortikali approximately 80 times on his heels for refusing to participate in mandatory readings of books written by President Karimov. The report could not be confirmed independently, but its account tracked with other reports of similar abuse in the prisons. On June 26, the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan (HRAU) released a statement calling attention to nine reported victims of torture, including 20-year-old Anton Khizhnyakov, whom police officers from the Mirobod District police department in Tashkent allegedly subjected to torture in March to extract a confession for a crime that he stated he Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012 United States Department of State • Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor UZBEKISTAN 4 did not commit. The HRAU reported that police and the municipal prosecutor’s office did not respond to its appeals on behalf of the individuals. There was no further information available concerning the 2011 abuse case of Dilshod Shohidov. Throughout the year authorities reportedly meted out harsher-than-typical treatment to individuals suspected of Islamist extremism. Local human rights workers reported that authorities often offered payment or other inducements to inmates to beat other inmates suspected of religious extremism. Family members of several inmates whom the international community considered political prisoners asserted that officials did not grant prisoners’ requests for medical evaluation and treatment. Among these prisoners were Agzam Turgunov and Dilmurod Sayid. Prison and Detention Center Conditions Prison conditions were in some circumstances harsh and life threatening. Reports of overcrowding were common, as were reports of severe abuse and shortages of medicine. Inmates and their families reported that food and water were of poor quality but generally available. Relatives of prisoners in some instances complained that prison diets did not include sufficient amounts of meat. There were reports of political prisoners being held in cells without proper ventilation, and prisoners occasionally were subjected to extreme temperatures. Family members also reported that officials frequently withheld or delayed delivery of food and medicine intended for prisoners. Unlike in past years, family members of inmates did not report any incidents of sexual abuse. Physical Conditions: According to 2009 statistics, the government held approximately 42,000 inmates at 58 detention facilities; the government did not respond to requests for updated figures. Men, women, and juvenile offenders were held in separate facilities. There were reports that in some facilities inmates convicted of attempting to overturn the constitutional order were held separately, and prison officials did not allow inmates convicted under religious extremism charges to interact with other inmates. Officials